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Japanese Movies (Live Action)


Guest Ranmah

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There were a few Japanese movies I wanted to watch but they rarely get released in the States.

Two movies I am dying to see are:

Hana Yori Dango -Final-

Cyborg, She (Boku no Kanoko wa Cyborg)

Others I want to see are:

L -change the worLd-

Shaolin Girl

Kurosagi

I've seen and own NANA, Death Note, Death Note: The Last Name and Densha Otoko (Train Man)

NANA 2 is also available now but I was told that it was pretty horrible so I've stayed away from it :blush:

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Those are pretty interesting movies.

I just got to see 20th Century Boys. Great movie. I understood about 10%, but the visuals make it more interesting. There will be a sequel in 2009.

I have no idea if any US company will pick it up.

My guess the R2 DVD will be English Subtitle. The always movies were english sub. I always like NTV. I am just crossing my fingers.

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Those are pretty interesting movies.

I just got to see 20th Century Boys. Great movie. I understood about 10%, but the visuals make it more interesting. There will be a sequel in 2009.

I have no idea if any US company will pick it up.

My guess the R2 DVD will be English Subtitle. The always movies were english sub. I always like NTV. I am just crossing my fingers.

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I watch some but the ones I find are usually horror movies.

The last Japanese movie I saw was the Deathnote series lol.

Is Densha Otoko good? I want to watch it but it looks so corny DD8

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I watch some but the ones I find are usually horror movies.

The last Japanese movie I saw was the Deathnote series lol.

Is Densha Otoko good? I want to watch it but it looks so corny DD8

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I thought the Densha Otoko movie was done pretty well, however I didn't enjoy the series.

The tv drama was one of the dramas I looked forward to but to this day I could not finish it. I agree with kaki in that Densha barely transformed at all, although I didn't finish it, I could tell from the few epsiodes I saw. Whereas the movie Densha looked like a different person after his transformation.

The girl who played Hermes in the movie was more realistic and I think fits better with the story. I usually like Misaki Ito but she was so dull and boring in the TV series, her character was just like...kind of clueless. Maybe I should finish it and maybe it gets better but I've been told that it isn't all that great.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I do quite enjoy my Asian movies and Jdramas. <3 My all time favorite Jdramas are GTO and Stand Up. I just started watching My Boss, My Hero, and it's decent so far, but not one of my favs. As for movies, I watch a lot of Asian horrors. I have seen some really lame ones, but there are a lot of great ones too. I wish Hollywood would stop remaking them and just show the originals, but I think the majority of the American audience wouldn't want to see them for various reasons. *sigh* Oh well.

Favorite horror:

Ringu

Ju-on

Shutter (Thailand)

Alone (Thailand)

Tale of Two Sisters (Korea)

Phone (Korea)

One Missed Call

The Eye (Hong Kong)

Other movies:

Battle Royale

The Neighbor No. 13

Death Note

Azumi

Stereo Future

Sky High

Scrap Heaven

Chaos

My Sassy Girl (Korea)

Please Teach Me English (Korea)

The Rebel (Viet Nam) (I really like the music in this!)

As for Densha, I liked the TV drama more than the theatrical movie. :x I agree that Densha was too good looking in the movie, even as a geek. I felt more bored watching the movie than the TV drama too. Oh well. To each their own. ^^0 I would still like to read the book the movie was based on though. At one point I heard from Tokyo Pop that they were releasing the manga version. That was a few years ago though, so maybe it's out already? xD

And if you have not seen the live action TV drama special of Grave of the Fireflies, I HIGHLY recommend it! Imo, it blows the anime out of the water. :)

Edited by .Schala.
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And if you have not seen the live action TV drama special of Grave of the Fireflies, I HIGHLY recommend it! Imo, it blows the anime out of the water. :o

How so? I'm curious. I saw the TV Drama almost when it aired in Japan as I had anticipated it for quite a long time.

I love the TV Drama, but not because it was necessarily good, but because it was a good alternate perspective.

The issue with the TV Drama was that by showing the new perspective, they forgot the old perspective. They portray Seita was portrayed to be a hard-headed brat that didn't care about the rest of the world. All he cared about was his little sister. The sister was portrayed as even more ignorant and stupid, she had no sense of anything at all except following around her idiotic brother. The cartoon showed quite a different version of the characters. A hard working loving brother that did all he could, but was forced into a situation with an "aunt" that didn't care about them, as her plate was already filled with raising a family, and used Setsuko and Seita for her own gain.

In the TV series, the aunt is fully justified in what she did, and fought hard for the well-being of her family who did all she could for the two children, but the two children were too stubborn to lend their support and help her out.

The cartoon villainized her into being a selfish woman who didn't care about the children, nor wanted the children there.

The main difference is shown extremely well in the discussion between the Aunt and Seita near the river bank.

Now, this is only concerning the writing changes. In terms of production value, the LA was horrible. Horrible acting by all but two actors/actresses. Horrible direction through out the majority of the series, and the obvious low budget that is evident in basically every JP LA series ever made.

IYO, you may have enjoyed the LA more, but in terms of production, the LA was quite poor.

Once more I will repeat, I loved the LA. But that's due to perspective and personal gains from it. In terms of actual quality, it was quite horrible.

In terms of other JP movies and productions in JP -> US remakes, and other JP originals. JP movies have poor production quality, and low budgets. Most JP actors are not very good. In terms of remakes. Let's take Ju-on since that's rather well known. The JP production was obviously way lower budget, effect were poorly done compared to the US counter-part, and the acting was horrible in a lot of different places. The big complaint that most people have that is legitimate...

Is that things were changed. Granted, this is going to happen in ANY adaptation/localization. Hell, compare 'manga' -> 'anime' changes. There's always drastic changes in all of them. The issue is that, most people (at least in US communities) do not read the comics prior to seeing the anime. So they watch the anime, and love it. But then those that have read the comic see the anime, and they hate it, because "it's different".

I refer to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. There is an entire episode of the anime dedicated to this ideal. The adaptation from comic to cartoon.

Let's say, Juon was written EXACTLY the same for the US version. The dialogue was almost exactly the same, the environment was exactly the same, the pacing, everything. Would people have liked it?

If you say yes, why would they? They saw the original, why would they watch the exact same thing with a different cast? They already saw it. Now this does two things.

All of the people that have seen the original will complain about how they've already seen it, and they will call the remake "a bad copy of the original". Why watch the remake when the original exists and is exactly how the "original/story" should be. Newer watchers will be turned off from it, because of localization issues. They will miss out on a lot due to international idioms and environments. Without the changes, the mass audience will not enjoy it because they won't be able to relate to something that is centralized in a culture they do not understand, or even know much about at all.

Now, with the changes, we have a different set of complaints. "It's not like the original". If you want the original, you should watch the original.

You can't make everyone happy. It's impossible, no matter what is done, complaints will be made. Now the most important of this. This is a business. Companies are trying to make money, so they will make the appropriate changes to gather the largest audience. This has nothing to do with quality. Quality is secondary.

Saying that, look at JP LA stuff. I mean, really really look at it. Now imagine, if an American production put something out of that quality. It would be trashed to no end as being low budget, and horribly directed/written. But Asian film enthusiasts ignore it because "It's Asian".

I've been watching Asian film since I was a child, as my family grew up with Asian cinema. Just as an example... I was watching Jet Li films since the mid-80's. I watched a documentary about the Shaolin temples with him as the subject in 91. JP cinema was introduced to me when I was in kindergarten by my best friend, and I'd watch movies/tv shows/and even variety shows at his house almost every day for 5 years until he moved. Growing up with all of this, in addition to US movies, the whole "it being Asian" had no affect on me. I've seen movies as movies. TV shows as TV shows, and quality as quality. Most people can't do this. They recently got introduced, or picked it up as a hobby in their teens. So it's got a different value to them. They can't look at it for face value and pile up so much emotional value, or "exotic" value into it, that they lose sight of what they're watching (not that I'm accusing anyone here specifically, and just stating in general).

People need to learn to separate judgment. When evaluating something, separate your opinion with quality. You can add your opinion in, but when telling others, don't let your opinion overlap that of the actual quality.

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Deep breath, RELAX. People are entitled to like what they want to like and should NOT have to get heated over their personal choices.

Schala, PyronIkari, if you want to continue it between the two of you, TAKE IT off the forum and to the PMs. Any further snitting back and forth between the two in this topic and the thread WILL be locked.

~Topic Please

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I kind of find J-Movies through seeing them at conventions and reading Diamond Comics Previews. I really don't know what is coming out on the J-movie scene in the country except for the occassional anime release. That makes it hard to know what Iwant to see licensed. Are there any good resources for new Japanese movie release in English?

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  • 3 weeks later...
There were a few Japanese movies I wanted to watch but they rarely get released in the States.

Two movies I am dying to see are:

Hana Yori Dango -Final-

Cyborg, She (Boku no Kanoko wa Cyborg)

Others I want to see are:

L -change the worLd-

Shaolin Girl

Kurosagi

I've seen and own NANA, Death Note, Death Note: The Last Name and Densha Otoko (Train Man)

NANA 2 is also available now but I was told that it was pretty horrible so I've stayed away from it :)

Edited by Suzahara
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Saw Machine Girl at AUSA and all I can say is WOW. DRILLL BRAAAAAAAA!!!! I just wish Captain Ginyu had been part of the ninja force xD

I also saw Sukiyaki Western Django which was VERY INTERESTING but unless you like a good western, I wouldnt recommend this movie. Quentin Tarentino is in it and the rest of the cast is Japanese and the film is completely in English (yes they are ALL speaking English, no dubbing here). It was alot of fun, but once again it runs at the pace of a western movie so it can get a little slow at times. If you like westerns though you should love this movie!

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That L movie looks good. Kinda wanna see Suicide Club too.

Suicide Club was AWESOME. A little confusing, but awesome nonetheless. I still havent seen its sequel/side story though.

I also want to see the L movie, but I still need to pick up the second Death Note movie.

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That L movie looks good. Kinda wanna see Suicide Club too.

Suicide Club was AWESOME. A little confusing, but awesome nonetheless. I still havent seen its sequel/side story though.

I also want to see the L movie, but I still need to pick up the second Death Note movie.

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That L movie looks good. Kinda wanna see Suicide Club too.

Suicide Club was AWESOME. A little confusing, but awesome nonetheless. I still havent seen its sequel/side story though.

I also want to see the L movie, but I still need to pick up the second Death Note movie.

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That L movie looks good. Kinda wanna see Suicide Club too.

Suicide Club was AWESOME. A little confusing, but awesome nonetheless. I still havent seen its sequel/side story though.

I also want to see the L movie, but I still need to pick up the second Death Note movie.

I haven't seen either of the Death Note movies yet. I was hoping to go see The Last Name at the theater this week but I have to work. ;_;

The Last Name is playing at a couple of theaters tonight and Thursday in my city, A friend and I are going to catch that after work today, I can wait!

Youll have to let us know how it is. Im going to have to wait for the dvd unfortunately.

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That L movie looks good. Kinda wanna see Suicide Club too.

Suicide Club was AWESOME. A little confusing, but awesome nonetheless. I still havent seen its sequel/side story though.

I also want to see the L movie, but I still need to pick up the second Death Note movie.

I haven't seen either of the Death Note movies yet. I was hoping to go see The Last Name at the theater this week but I have to work. ;_;

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